A Study on the Growth of Manufacturing lndustries in the Big Urban Areas of Korea

The purpose of this paper is to identify some characteristics of spatial distribution of manufacturing industries though the comparative analysis on the time span of 1970 and 1980 to the six large urban areas; Soeul, Pusan, Taegu, Incheon, Kwangju, Taejon. Of various methods to investigate spatial variation of manufacturing activities, the shift-share analysis and the location quotient were applied to analyze the industrial structure of the 6 metropolitan cities over a period of 1970-1980. The comparative status of regional economy was identified by use of those techniques. As a result of the analysis of the change of manufacturing activities, the following patterns are identified. Firstly, in terms of the location quotient, which provides a meaningful mean in measuring the extent to which a city has a share of industrial activities over that of the nation as a whole, there appeared that the manufacturing industries have played a key role of the basic industry for urban economy in the 5 cities-Seoul, Pusan, Taegu, Inchon, Taejon-with the exception of the case of Kwangju which the tertiary has traditionally prevailed over other sectors